Brake mechanism



Jan. 8 1924.

B. F. KURTZ BRAKE MECHANISM Filed 061" 7. 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 nbdvtowBe/y'amm FA Z Z Jan. 8, 1924. 7 1,479,820

B. F. KURTZ BRAKE MECHANISM Filed 11- 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Jan. 8,1924. I 1,479,820

B. F. KURTZ BRAKE MECHANISM Filed Oct, '7, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5Ben/61mm F M17? 2 wi mmw Patented Jan. 8, 1924.

neuter/rm. nema; or i vnnon, r'nnnsyrjvnnin, essienon TO iejnnssnn STEELone COMPANY, or PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, n-conronnrron or W Jnnsny.

BRAKE- MECHANISM.

Application -fi1ed October 7, 1921. serial no. 506,153;

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that l, BENJAMIN F. K 'URTZ, a citizen of the United States,residing at Avalon, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvaniaghave invented oer} tain new and useful Improvements in'Br'akeMechanism, of which the following is a specification. This inventionrelates to brakes for rail- 1. way cars and more ,partioula rlyjto thetype known as clasp brakes which are connected to the body of the oarandtojthe truck, and has foran Fobiect-the provision of 'rneans forconnecting a portion ofthe brake-to the car body in such a mainnerthatrelative movement between the brake and the car body is permitted sothatthe brake will not be affected by the angularityof the truck rela tiveto the car body when-the car to which 90 the brake is appliedis'rounding a curve in the track, and will, at the same time, obviateany binding or bending action between the levers and rods of the brakedue to sue ngularity of the truck.

Another object of the inventionis toprovide a clasp brake having afulcrum bracket rigidly secured'tothe car body and a com pensatingconnection between two of the dead levers ofsaid hrake'and the :tul'crumbrackets toenable the same operative ro;-

port'ilonate leverage to be maintained when the car to which the brake'-is applied is,

rounding a curve. a

These and other objects will heapparent from the followingdescription:

Referring to the drawings which like reference characters refer to likeparts, Fig, 1 is a planiview of the brake appliedfto the body and truckof a railway -car, the truck frame, wheels and axles of :the truck andthe center sills of the bod-y being shown in dot and dash lines; Fig. 2is a side elevational' view of the same; Fig. 3 is an enlar'gud endelevational view of the same; Fig. l is an enlargeddetail plan View of aportion of the: brake connected with the truck and body of a can-thefu-l-llines ill-ustrating the brake in its normal position when thetruck is traveling on straight track and the dot and clashlinesillustrating the position of the brake when the truck is rounding acurve. To simplify this View andto illustrate the action of the; brakewhen the truck is rounding a curve the posit on ofthe center sills havebeen changed insteadof changing the position of the truck and thehrakefas a whole; Fig. 5 is anenlanged sectional view of thefulcrum'br'acket and the horizontal brake lever taken on the line 5-5o-tFi-g.1.'

Referring no'win detail to the drawings in which like reference.characters refertofl-ike. parts the reference character 1,indicates thewheels ot aicat truck which are mounted on axles 2 in the usualzlnanncry suchl ax-les belngfj'ournaled in the-truck "frame :inanysuitable manner; a I

Each pair otwheels is provided withbrak'e beams 3 and 4, the beam 3'being'arrangedf at one side of one of the pairs of wheels and the beam4 at the oppos-i-te sideot' such pairs. The beams 3 maybe of anysuitable formbut as illustrated in the drawings preferably comp-risemembers-of 1' form in cross section the webs of which arehorizontallydisposed, each of which beams isipreferably of such a lengthas to extendfrom wheel to wheel transversely of the,;trucl At each end of the beam abrake shoe head '5 is se- CllI6d,;IC-ll-f0f which heads hassecuredthereto a brake shoe .-;6 which is-{adapted to en'- ga'ge one of theWheels il hebeams l may also be of any i suitable forrnbut aszillnstrated; in the -drawings each beam preferably comprises -a rectangularbar which is hor-izontally disposed {and is preferably Y of suchalength1ast0eXtend from wheel-to wheel transversely of the truck. Theend portions of, these ,beams, a are provided with trnnnrons7, onwhichthe v;ertieally di-sposed I dead levers 81 are loosely mounted.

Above the beam,,4each' ofthe dead levers 8,:is-ancho-red to a part ofthe truck frame, and below the beam' each of theselevers is providedwith a brake shoe head 9 "which i -turn :is ,provided with i a brakeshoe which is'adapted to,engageonefofthe wheels. i i

This brake shoe head; is pivotally connected with the 'lever'and is heldin its proper position relative to the wheel by means of a spring member10 one end; ,ofwhioh is secured to the lever 8 and the opposite endportion arranjged to engage thebrake shoe head.

To support the beams3, hangers 1 1 are provided, one end-ofeachof whichis p ivotally secured to the truclrframe and the other end -toJthe-brake shoe head-or, to any other suitable part of the brake beam,while the *de ad, levers "8 support the brake beams f4.

a the medium of a clevis 1'5 and pin 16 such pin being loosely mountedin the clevis, the opposite end of the floating lever being connectedwith one end of an equalizer lever 17 through the medium of a rod 18which equalizer in turn is connected with the pull rod 19. The upper endportion of each of these levers 12at the opposite end of the truck areconnected with one end of a horizontally disposed dead lever 20-througl1the medium of a clevis 15 and pin 16 the opposite end of such leverbeing loosely mounted in a fulcrum bracket 21. This fulcrum bracket ispreferably secured to the center sills 22 of the car body but desiredmay be secured to any other suit-able part of the car body, and when sosecured forms a recess for the reception of the end portion of the deadlever 20 and a roller 23 which is mounted on a pin 24 that passesthrough the lever, and is adapted to engage a-vertical disposed portion25 of-the bracket. It will be noted that there is no bolt or likeconnection bet-ween the lever and the fulcrum bracket and that movementof the brake relative to the car body will be permitted without causingthe several parts of the brake to bind on each other or to becomeaccidentally bent or broken due to such movement. At each side of thelongitudinal center line of the truck and of the brake the floatinglever 14 is connected with the horizontally disposed dead lever 20through the medium of a rod 26 which is connected with the leversintermediate their ends.

In the drawings the equalizer lever 17 has been illustrated as beingconnected with the floating levers 14 by the rods 18 but it will beunderstood that if desired these rods may be omitted and the equalizerlever secured directly to the levers 14.

The brake beams 4 are arranged in a plane above the brake beams 3 suchbeams 3' being connected with the levers 8 by rods 27 such rods at oneend being connected with the levers 12 at a point intermediate theirends.

It will be noted that as the truck rounds a curve the rollers 23 willengage and roll on the portion 25 of the fulcrumbracket.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art to which this inventionappertains that changes may be made in the construction and arrangementof the several parts forming the brake rigging without departing fromthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described the invention what I claim as new and desire tersPatent is 1. The combination with a car body and atruck, of a brakemounted on said truck, said brake comprising a plurality of leversengaging said body but not secured thereto.

2. The combination with a car body and a truck, of a brake mounted onsaid truck, a bracket mounted on said body, and a brake lever engagingsaid bracket but not secured thereto. n

3. The combination with a car body, of center sills forming a partthereof, brackets secured to said sills and depending therebelow, andbrake levers loosely mounted in said brackets adapted to compensate forrelative movement between said body and levers.

to secure by Let 4. The combination with a car body and a center sillsforming apart thereof, bracketssecured to said sills and dependingtherebelow, a truck, a brake mounted on said truck, said brakecomprising a plurality of levers adapted to engage said brackets belowsaid sills the connections between said brackets and levers beingadapted to automatically compensate for relative movement between saidbody and truck.

' 6. The combination with a car truck, of a brake rigging carried bysaid truck said brake rigging comprising a plurality of verticallydisposed live levers and a plurality of horizontally disposed deadlevers, and swivel connetions between the adjacent ends of said levers,each of said connections comprising a clevis and a member rotatablymounted in said clevis.

7. The combination'with a car body and a truck, of a brake riggingcarried by said truck and connected with-said body to compensate forrelative movement between said body and truck said brake riggingcomprising a plurality of horizontally disposed dead levers one end ofeach of which loosely engages said body, a plurality of verticallydisposed live levers, and swivel connections between the adjacent endsof said levers whereby power may be applied to said levers to release orapply said brake.

8. The combination with a car truck, of a brake rigging carried by saidtruck, said brake rigging comprising 'a horizontally disposed dead leverand a vertically disposed live lever, and a connectionl between theadjacent endsof said levers forming a universal joint adapted to permitangular movement of one lever relative to the other.

9. The combination with a car truck'of a comprising two sets ofconnected levers and rods one set arranged adjacent each side of thetruck, each of said sets comprising a horizontally disposed dead lever,a horizontally disposed live lever, a rod connecting said levers, aplurality of vertically disposed live levers, swivel connections,between the adjacent ends of said dead lever and one of said verticallydisposed live levers and a swivel connection between the adjacent endsof said horizontally disposed live lever and the other of saidvertically disposed live levers.

10. The combination with a car body and 1 a truck, of a brake riggingcarried by said truck, said brake rigging comprising two sets ofconnected levers and rods, one set being arranged at each side of thetruck each set comprising a dead lever having a connection with saidbody adapted to automatically compensate for relative horizontalmovement between said lever and body, a live lever, and a connectionbetween the adjacent ends of said levers forming a universal jointadapted to compensate for relative angular movement between said levers.In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in the presence of twowitnesses.

BENJAMIN F. KURTZ. Witnesses:

EDYTHE LAMBE, M. J. STEELE.

